Frank's RC/Electronics Hobby: July 2013

Round 3 of the On-Road Point Series at Competition Hobbies in Tucson

Sunday, July 21st, 2013

It was time again to head down to Competition Hobbies in Tucson for round 3 of the On-Road Carpet Point Series. I made the trek down with my friends Dean and Dragi from Wolfpak Racing, and I'd like to thank Dean for driving his vehicle down for each of these trips and allowing me to tag along. We headed down a little earlier than last time, they were nice enough to open the track about an 1-1/2 hours earlier then normal, and the extra practice was nice. We got down there about 11 am, which gave us an extra hour of practice before racing started a 2 pm.

After getting setup in the pits, it was on to some practice.

I love the pit table at Competition Hobbies

I really wanted to test my car because I was running a completely different setup that the standard/stock setup I was running. You can click on the "Setup Sheets" tab at the top of the blog to view my current setup. The car felt amazing compared to the last time I raced down here. I feel I picked up a whole second on my average lap times.

Seems like the 3 of us was the only ones that made the trek down from the Phoenix area, so there was only 2 heats of us for the 17.5 rubber Tire Sedan class.

On to the racing:

Qualifying Round 1:

Heat 1:

Heat 2:
This was possible the best round of racing I have did yet on this carpet track, the car felt amazing. Compared to the last racing for this point series I on did 22 and 23 laps in the first two heats for round 2 of the point series. This time I was able to pull a 24, it was a slow 24, but I will take it.

Dean and Dragi, working hard in the pits

Qualifying Round 2:

Heat 1:

Heat 2:
For some reason the car did not feel as well as in Heat 2, but I was consistent, and was able to pull off another 24 laps run with about the same time.

Myself, getting ready for the next round of racing.

The Mains:

B-Main:
For the B-Main, I started off pretty good, the car felt good again. Dean was quick, and I stayed in 2nd for the whole race. About lap 15, I had a bad turn in the sweeper, and tagged the wall hard, after that the car would not turn as well, and on lap 19, another bad mistake in the sweeper, and off came the right rear wheel. I think when I hit the wall the first time, it broke, and when I hit the wall on lap 19 the pin finally let loose fully. Luckily I found the pin for the rear arm before they started the next main.

A-Main:
Here is the A-Main, although I have been progressing each week, I feel it may be another round of racing or two before I can get myself into the A-Main. Right now the leaders are doing 27 to 30 laps, so I need to somehow pick up 3-4 laps. On to some more practice time.

Thursday Night Racing @ HobbyTown in Gilbert, AZ

Thursday; July 18th, 2013

Missed racing last week, but didn't want to miss this week, so I headed on down to HobbyTown Gilbert, for the weekly Thursday night racing. My friend Dean could not make it, so I picked up his son Dragi (Wolfpak Racing blog), and the two of us headed down for some RC action. I love racing on Thursdays because its a smaller crowd, and a lot less hectic then Saturday night racing. I had made some major changes to the car, almost completely changed the setup from when I bought the car. I will attach the current setup to the setup tab of the blog tonight.

All setup in the pits, ready to race.

Tonight was going to be a quick racing night with only 11 heats of racing for all the classes. Once again, I was racing my Associated TC6.1 in the Sportsman Sedan - Road Course class. And I was dying to get my car out on the track to test the new setup.

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Qualifying: Round 1:

Sportsman Sedan - Road Course

There was only 4 of us tonight, usually we have a crowd of 6-7, this would be a good night for testing my cars new setup.

Driver: Laps Time
Dustin 20 4:03.41
Frank 20 4:07.97
Dylan 18 4:06.77
Dragi 17 4:01.42

The car felt great, and it wasn't for my bad driving and hitting the corners wrong a few times, I feel I would have been able to pull home the win in this round.

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Mains:

Sportsman Sedan - Road Course

So, after the round of qualifying, I would be starting second on the A-Main. I decided not to make any adjustments to the car, just to see if it would be consistent from the first round of action.

A-Main:

Driver: Laps Time
Frank 21 4:09.20
Dustin 21 4:11.94
Dylan 19 4:13.01
Dragi 18 4:05.37

The care felt great again, and was really hooking up. We started the first couple of laps right how we qualifying, but after the 3rd lap, I was able to get around Dustin, and there was no looking back. After a mid-race crash with some lap traffic, Dustin was right on my bumper, but I was able to hold him off until the end to put myself on top of the podium, with a personal best of 21 laps.

All-in-All, the car felt great, and the new setup was matching my driving skills perfectly. I will be racing this Sunday for the third round of the Carpet Point series at Competition Hobbies in Tuscon, and I will post the results of that race probably on Monday or Tuesday of next week.

Dragi in the pits, ready for some racing.

HPI RACING - New Global Website. Share and Win!!

Round 2 of the Point Series at Competition Hobbies in Tucson

Sunday, June 30th, 2013

Went down to Competition Hobbies in Tucson for round 2 of the On-Road Point Series. I made the trip down with my friends Dean and Dragi from WolfPak Racing. As last time, we headed down a little early to get there when they opened at noon, that way we could get a little bit of practice in before racing started at 2 pm.

After getting all setup in the pits and getting some practice in, we were set for racing. We had a lot more drivers for round 2 of the series, and ended up with 3 heats for Touring Car.

Qualifying Round 1:

17.5 Touring Car - Rubber Tire
Round one I was seeing some improvements, and I finished round one of heats with a personal best of 22 laps. The car felt better, and I was learning more with each round.

Heat 1:

Heat 2:

Heat 3:

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I like the layout

Qualifying Round 2:

17.5 Touring Car - Rubber Tire
Round two of heats had seen some further improvements, and i topped my personal best of 22 with 23 laps. This left me qualified 14th overall, and started 6th in the B-Main.

Heat 1: